Council of the Western Isles report on cost of November ransomware attack.
A November cyber attack on the Western Isles may end up costing the local authority £500,000 to restore IT systems.
A suspected ransomware attack on 7 November 2023 disrupted its IT system and caused its website to go down, according to media reports.
The council’s incident management team has led the effort to restore systems, which has included the migration of some systems to cloud-based alternatives.
In a statement released this week, Malcolm Burr, chief executive of the council said that since the cyber attack it has taken steps to improve the security of systems and safeguard data.
“The incident management team continues to work closely with services to identify areas where support is required and to explore opportunities to improve and future-proof service delivery,” Burr said.
“The IMT is also exploring potential digital efficiencies where services can gain additional benefits from the rebuilding process. It is inevitable that there will be additional costs resulting from the cyber attack and further information will be provided to the Comhairle as these costs become available. The Comhairle will seek financial support on the costs associated with the rebuild.”
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
